Indian Army celebrates Diwali and Children’s Day with locals in Sopore
In continuation with various Military Civic Action Programmes, aimed at “Winning Hearts and Minds” of the Local AWAM, Zalurah COB of Sopore/Watlab Rashtriya Rifles Battalion celebrated the auspicious occasion of Diwali and Children’s Day by distributing sweets and ration to the underprivileged and the destitute of the region.
The locals, especially children, were excited to receive sweets and gifts from the soldiers and spread their invaluable smiles to make the surroundings full of love, affection, peace and harmony showering from each delighted face.
The gala day culminated on a positive note. The beneficiaries appreciated the goodwill gesture of the forces. They expressed a sense of satisfaction towards normalcy returning in the region.
Mehbooba’s U-turn on Tricolour:
‘Will hold both flags together’
SRINAGAR: Former J&K CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, on November 10, did a U-turn on her refusal to hoist the Tricolour, only to ignite a fresh controversy by saying that terrorism had spiked under BJP’s watch because Kashmiri youth would rather pick up the gun than get hauled to jail for voicing dissent.
“I have taken oath with my hand on both Jammu and Kashmir’s (erstwhile) constitution and the Constitution of India to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country. I will hold both flags together,” Mehbooba told reporters at the end of her five-day Jammu outreach.
“We are the people, especially those in the Valley, who had held the Tricolour high over the years at the cost of thousands of lives. It is only because of the government’s high-handedness that youth in Kashmir are again taking to the gun,” she said.
In her first presser after being released from detention under the Public Safety Act last month, Mehbooba had said that she wouldn’t hoist the national flag until J&K’s special status was restored along with its flag.
Courtesy: Times of India, November 11, 2020.
PoK Muslims offer pooja at Sharda Peeth
Save Sharda Committee Kashmir organized a small puja, during the Navratri festival, at Sharda Peeth in PoK, on October 23. Civil society members, across the LoC, laid flowers and applied sindoor (vermillion) inside the Peeth — for the first time in the last 72 years.
The members were led by Mr. Rayees Mohammed, who laid flowers on behalf of Ssharda followers. The civil society, across, laid flowers and made a sindoor swastik on the sanctum sanctorum.
It was in November, 2016, that flowers were laid on the Sharda Peeth through the civil society across LoC. Swami Nand Lal Ji — a Kashmiri saint — was the last to sit on this peeth up to 1948. Swami Ji had to move to Tikker in Kupwara after the tribal raids. Since then, no J&K Hindu has gone there , nor any pilgrimage held.
Save Sharda Committee Kashmir is pressing for reopening of Sharda Peeth and has been in touch with the authorities in India, Pakistan and PoK for the purpose.